"You Can't Waste The Food"

On Sunday we got an assignment to visit four stores in various areas throughout Milano. I mapped out our route last night to be able to navigate our way to all of these places. We were successful in finding all four of the stores! Unfortunately, none of the stores were open because it was Sunday. But it made it easier for our group to visit them on Monday. Stay tuned for a cultural assignment!

Upon returning from our exploration around the city, Christopher, Brittany, Ashley and I decided to try a Chinese buffet restaurant for dinner. As we walked into the restaurant, which was beautifully decorated, we were met with a huge variety of Chinese food. However, it wasn’t the Chinese/American food that I am used to eating. When we sat down to be greeted they sent over the only waiter who spoke English. He explained to us that the buffet was all you could eat but you can’t “waste the food” and pointed to a sign on the table. This sign read, “If you waste the food you will be charged an extra 5 to 20 euro”.

After our first helping we quickly realized that we should take very little of something to make sure we liked it. The whole dinner was absolutely hilarious because we were either trying to shove food into our face or trying to pass it off on each other to avoid being charged. Never have I heard of such a concept in America. It was hard to enjoy your food because you were worried about what you didn’t like but still had to eat. In relation to retail, imagine if you were charged extra if you didn’t buy the clothing you tried on. You would be petrified to try on anything that you weren’t positive you would like. Needless to say I don’t think this concept will catch on and I will never be returning to that restaurant.

Entrance into the Chinese Buffet